Gladiator

Gladiator is a 1-player arcade game for the 8-bit Atari.

The player controls a swordsman who moves in all directions with their sword thrust out to the right. The player tries to defeat the black Barbarian swordsman of evil by hitting them with their sword without getting hit by the Barbarian's sword. Small Roman soldiers appear from the peripheries of the screen and move towards the center. These can be defeated by hitting them with the sword, but can also cost the player a life. Bonus items appear on the screen that can be picked up. There are 3 difficulty levels. The player starts with 5 lives, and it's game over when all are lost.